Cut and Run?

[amandalockphotography]

Hello Everyone,

 

I have been a dedicated Konica Minolta gal since the beginning when I had a 35mm

SLR camera. I currently own a Minolta 5D which I love, but I am quickly growing

out of it. I am looking to upgrade to a better camera, and considering the fact

that I have 5 Minolta lenses, the new Sony A100 seemed like the logical choice.

Slight problems though. I will be doing quite a bit of flash photography, and

have been told lately that getting an external battery pack would be a good

idea. Since Minolta is out of biz, there's no getting one for the 5D. And Sony

apparently has announced that they will not be making a battery grip for the

a100. So do I sell all of my gear, forget Sony and move to the dark side

(Canon?). Or do I stick with what I know and love and pray to dear God that Sony

releases a new DSLR soon?

[annealmasy]

Cut your losses and move on.

 

I have thousands of dollars worth of medium format film gear that's now worth about $250.

Sucks. But so it goes.

[Jochen_S]

Weren't the external battery packs meant for the flash? - I love the old style gun and pack flashes a lot and have heared ther are external packs for some hotshoeflashes too.

 

Can't tell much about Sony/Minolta. I have a compareably odd 35mm & DSLR system too. As long as it floats your boat stick to it, but if you are planning to switch: Do it fast, shoot mixed systems if necessary. The AS of Minolta seems to be a nice feature worth sticking to such a camera for available light with short primes.

[david_starr3]

Are you talking about an external battery pack for the flash? If so, look into Quantum. I use a Quantum Turbo with a 5400HS and Maxxum 7. It should work with the Sony badged 5600HS (D) as well.

[ShunCheung]

I too would cut your losses and move on. It is unwise to give up the sure thing and hope that someone else will build something to your satisfaction.

[craig_gillette]

There seem to be some 3rd party possibilities for the vertical grips. But these vertical grips (or a Sony/KM even if it existed for other than the 7D) would provide additional battery life for the camera and the integral flash only. If you are looking for added battery power/life for an external flash, then you'd need to determine what works with the flash you are dealing with. If you are growing out of the 5D, then I'm not sure the A100 is all that big a step. Sony should be bringing out additions to their line (but KM should have added to theirs as well) but demand and sensible system progression and wishful thinking may move much faster than the wheels of a big business. Having not gotten either a battery grip for my 7D and desiring also an L bracket, I hesitate to buy either at the prices they currently bring as I have this gut feel that the KM system might get killed off and then prices will spurt a bit then crash for everything.

 

OTOH, the longer Sony fumbles around on neither talking nor actually expanding thhe "system," the more reasonable if not painful a move looks. They need to hit the streets with a better than 7D to keep up with progress and cameras like the 30D, D200, etc., and even Pentax is cranking out new modles even if deliveries are a bit slow.

[savagesax]

It hurts to sell medium format and go digital. It also stings too, when ever 3 years or so you have to upgrade your digital gear. Shutters last about 100,000 shots, on some models and 250,000 on others. Some shooter on this site fire off 3000 images per wedding! Doesn't take long to be needing a new camera.

 

Anyway, dump it and go with Canon as they seem to be a little ahead of Nikon at the moment with full frame. So maybe rent a camera for a weekend and pick the system you like best. Good luck

[cjogo]

Dump quick--I moved it all > when you still only would loose half.......<div></div>

[monique_grower]

I too was a die hard minolta person, but when I went digital I went to canon. I like the canon. I have had a problem with the shutter. It was replaced free of charge and knock on wood no further problems.

[jiun_der_chung]

That depends on what you mean when you say that you are out growing the 5D. IF you mean in terms of the number of megapixels, then the A100 is going to provide you with a few more. If you mean in terms of functionality, then the 5D is capable of taking every picture that you might possibly want, but the annoying thing is that some of those functions are accessibe only through the menu.

 

I think that the A100 improves on that somewhat but is still based upon the 5D. Hopefully, when the 7D replacement comes out, that issue will be addressed. If you don't require more megapixels, you can always buy the 7D which is a better camera than the 5D and has a vertical grip available.

 

As a previous poster has pointed out, what you really want is a quantum external battery pack for your flash for faster recycling and more battery life.

 

Personally, my bias opinion is stick with Minolta. Minolta/Sony produces every lens that you might want for weddings. On top of that (and it's a big one), Minolta/Sony has anti-shake built into the body which gives you 2-3 extra stops which would be invaluable for a wedding photographer. To get the equivalent with Nikon or Canon, you will have to invest in extremely expensive image stabilised and fast glass.

 

So at the moment, you won't gain all that much by switching platforms apart from full-frame sensors if that is what you want. If you find that Sony does not come up with better and better stuff in the future, then you can always switch.

[joann]

You already have quite an investment in KM, as did I when I bought my 7D. I have been ready to cut and run many times because it seemed Sony was just ignoring the pro market. The newest information is that Sony will come out with a 7d upgrade. I never got the vertical grip for my 7d, didn't see a need for it. It takes 2 seconds to switch out batteries. I shot from 9:00 to 9:00 the other weekend and changed the battery in my camera once and my flash once.

 

However, if I'm not happy with the Sony offerings next year, my KM gear will be for sale, unfortunately.

[fxdonny]

Yes, cross over to the dark side :D

[ramon_acosta]

If you can afford it, I say go ahead. I was a minolta fan as well, but when canon came out with

the digital rebel, I sold everything, got a couple of primes and an "L" zoom and I cant be

happier. In any case if you already have an idea about wich camera you want, and you are

waiting for sony to build something like it, just give up and get it. Like someone else said try

both systems ideal camera for you. Besides I think it will take sony a couple of years before it

gets a wide range of cameras catering to all levels, specially pro's.

[steve_hovland]

I find that AA powered flashes do OK on cycle time and battery life if I shoot at 400 or 800.

 

My SB600 just seems to sip power, and that auto zoom feature helps too.

 

I personally prefer companies like Nikon and Canon or Olympus or Leica etc that have been making still cameras for a long time.

 

One Sony P&S I looked at had a very bizarre feature set that made me doubt their expertise in still cameras.